Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Public Service Banana Bread

Public Service

Paw-Paw worked for over 30 years for New Orleans Public
Service, NOPSI, a division of Middle South Utilities System, now Entergy. When
I was young, my dermatologist was located in a building near the NOPSI office.
Grandma would drop me off at the medical offices, and Paw-Paw would meet me and
take me to the doctor. After my appointment, Paw-Paw and I would walk back to NOPSI
office on Baronne Street. I
would sit in the lobby until he finished his work day. In the lobby, I watched
people pay their utility bills and browsed through the rack of recipes provided
by the extension service.

When I rented my first apartment as a graduate student, I
asked Dad to pick up a set of NOPSI recipes for me. I assembled the 75+ sheets
he picked up for me into a binder as my first cookbook.The banana recipe sheet had about 15 recipes
including banana bread, banana pudding, banana cake, and bananas foster

My Variations

To keep cost down, I use ½ stick of butter and ½ stick of
margarine. Additionally, I use half white and half wheat flour. This is a great
way to use up ripe bananas that you can buy inexpensively by the bag. I like
pecans in this recipe, and your dad prefers walnuts. You like it when I
substitute chocolate chips for the nuts or add ½ cup of chocolate chips.

Ingredients

¼

Cup

Butter (½ stick or 4 Tbsp)

¼

Cup

Margarine (½ stick or 4
Tbsp)

1

Cups

Sugar

1

Cups

Mashed ripe bananas (2
large or 3 small)

1

Tsp

Lemon juice

1

Tsp

Baking soda

2

Tbsp

Boiling water

2

Eggs, slightly beaten

½

Cup

Chopped nuts

½

Cup

Chocolate chips, optional

1

Cup

Wheat flour

1

Cup

White flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a loaf pan. (I use
a Pyrex bread pan.)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add bananas and lemon juice and blend well.

In a tea cup, add boiling water to soda. Add to
creamed mixture. Mix well.

Add eggs and mix well.

Add flour, one cup at a time, mixing well.

Add nuts or chocolate chips, if desired. Mix
well with a spatula by hand.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour until
toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. If not done, bake for an
additional 5 minutes and check again. Repeat until done.

Cool for about 5 minutes before removing from
pan. (I run a knife around the edge of the pan before removing the bread or use
a spatula to loosen the bread before removing.)